Covina
Ten Corvettes in ten days, from the start of this endeavor, I have been favoring the C5 and C6 over the C4 on the basis that late ’90s and mid-2000s GM is much better than anything the General made in the ‘80s. I avoided the C4 from hearsay that they were a level of chintzy not even my old Porsche 914 could match. However, three Vettes in and I could no longer avoid the C4’s singular “on paper” advantage: price.
Unlike the previous Corvette drives, the GPS lead me east to a small used car lot on the hot outer fringes of LA County. Before this test drive, I was under the impression that some cars are usually too old to sell at dealers, however, this dealership was full of hits from the ‘80s and early ‘90s, including one white C4 that I wasn’t there to see. In fact, the C4 I called about was nowhere to be seen.
After a little searching, I found that the lot porter was around the corner giving “my” C4 a bath. In this moment, I’m not sure what I so was worried about. This car looks fantastic! It’s like a daisy yellow. All sunshine. It even has turbine wheels. And when the porter fires her up, she emits a throaty growl from the dual square exhausts.
Get in. And just breathe on the go pedal and it chirps the rears.
“Yeah man be careful our insurance doesn’t allow you to go more than five miles,” the man cautions.
“That’s alright, do you need to get a copy of my driver’s license?” I ask.
“Huh, we need your license?”
As far as test drives go, this one’s off to the strangest start. For maybe an obvious, if dubious reason, the driver’s seat is soaking wet. There’s a miniature rainstorm coming from the seam between the Targa roof and the A-pillars
Fast forward 10 minutes later while heading onto I-210 East…
Shit! Shit! Shit!
The roof’s not bolted down! We’re at 45 mph and it’s starting to lift off its perch. Worse still, I can’t even find the hazard switch to warn other drivers. These are few weird problems turning into the perfect storm! I knew GM had terrible quality in the ‘80s but I didn’t think it’d be this bad!
This C4 is so terrible that it made Christy the green C5 feel like a Rolls-Royce. How bad does quality control have to be for the steering wheel to wiggle around while driving and for the door panel vinyl to need screws to stay in place? As if this wasn’t bad enough, driving back onto the dealer lot, the body managed to twist enough to pop the roof off its mount – again.
This C4 would be the King of Radwood – with its vintage flair that includes “Turbo Compressor” wheels, pop up headlights, and the aforementioned yellow finish. But it’s just not worth the rest of the irritation that living with this car is going to entail.
Strangely, despite this yellow nightmare’s list of troubles, it manages to be as entertaining as it is awful to drive. The exhaust is making promises the engine can’t keep. And the first-generation GM “traction control” didn’t stop this car from easily doing burnouts and drifts from every red light and corner – slushbox be damned.
It’s the thrill and terror of American muscle in one twitchy, flexy, drafty, plastic, Coke-addled car.
Back at the lot, I breathe a sigh of relief that I’m in one piece, that the roof didn’t blow off, and that the car is still in one piece – more or less. I thank the lot porter and take my leave thinking I’ll never drive another C4 as long as live. Do I still like Vettes? Um, ask me tomorrow.
Yep I had a C4 (1995) a while back. The roof is an integral part of the structure of the car and is actually installed with small bolts. I bet yours was not fully installed. I remember taking my Vette out sans top on I-79 and was amazed that at speed the steering column would vibrate rapidly back and forth a good inch! I was not impressed with the car to say the least.
Wow – so much for an appreciation of its intrinsic qualities when viewed with fresh eyes. 🙂 I suppose I should not be surprised given my limited exposure to 80s GM. In its defense, I still find the styling attractive.
Yes, I have been on those test drives where 5 minutes in you are absolutely positively sure that you wouldn’t take the car home for $5. Well, OK – maybe for $5, but that’s it.
I too test drive a C4 about a decade ago, as I recall it was an early 90’s version being sold by a Ford dealer near Road America in Wisconsin. Your experience confirms what I noted then, I.e. a very flimsy car that came across as extremely crude. I don’t know how they were when new but age didn’t help, it wasn’t charming or a reminder of simpler times or anything like that. I won’t paint them all with that same brush, one example may not represent all of them but it was definitely surprising.
Are the ZR1 models any better overall?
Very interesting article and comments. I’ve considered one partly because the C4s are inexplicably cheap to buy these days. It seems no one wants them, and good runners can be had for as little as $4000 around here. Crude? They’re still as sophisticated as a spaceship compared to my fleet. I’d consider one, still.
Yellow. While not a fan of yellow cars, THIS (and possibly a Lambo Hurracan) is one of the cars that if ordering, I would intentionally pick yellow.
Too bad about its foibles. It’s a really nice looking car.
Loving the series, BTW.
I doubt he drove the gorgeous ZR-1 in the cover photo. The ratty interior pics from his test drive appear to be of an auto-equipped base C4.
Yeah that is a media photo
I forgot to get enough pictures of the car I actually drove
I did call another yellow C4 a GM DS and boy did I hear about that.:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1990-chevrolet-corvette-gms-deadly-sin-9/
Very disappointing to hear. I really like the late C4’s in yellow, they look great, But the review and the comments so far seem to support the flimsy nature of the car.
Some will say the last 2 years of the C4 addressed the build quality – can anyone confirm or deny that?
and the previous review of the C5 in orange, another great color.
Bought my 1995 Vette around 2004 and kept it for a couple of years. I didn’t have any issues with the build quality nor reliability. Only problem I had, besides the previously mentioned willowy structure with the top off, was that the driver side leather seat bolster had a slight tear from the previous owner. I think the mileage was in the 30,000 range but don’t hold me to that. However it was not very enjoyable to drive. Granted it had an automatic tranny but driver involvement was not what it should be in a sports car; everything from a muted exhaust sound to imprecise steering. Lest you think I am down on Corvettes I recently test drove a C7 and was so impressed with it I subsequently bought one. Now that is a car that puts a smile on my face every time I drive it!
Examples from 1991 onward are generally tighter. GM paid significant lip service to better build quality with that year’s exterior/interior revamp but most of the perceived improvement came through more sprayed-on mastic behind the body panels.
That said, all C4s are rattletraps and much of the blame lies with a) cheap interior plastics and b) the birdcage frame. If memory serves, there are 11 separate structural components in each side rail alone.
Yes the 94 to 96 lot of improvment he must have test drive a beat up c4 with no maintenance and care
Too bad you judged all C4s based on one example. The roof was not properly bolted down and the steering column wobble was an issue on ALL GM tilt wheels of that era, easily fixed. The C4 was LIGHT YEARS ahead of it’s time when introduced, MILES ahead of the aged creaky C3 and to this day a super value. Is it as sophisticated as a C5? Of course not, be fair and judge it against other vehicles from its time.
Don’t worry I tried out another c4 in the series and it was much better
I’m not surprised that your experience with the C4 was so negative. They were kind of iffy when new, lots of rattling was evident to the new car reviewers. I sat in a new one at the Chevy dealer and slammed the door. It didn’t sound too solid! Typically as cars age they are owned by less affluent owners who don’t want to spend more than the car is worth on maintenance and repair. They descend into beater status unless they are owned by a knowledgeable enthusiast that can keep up the car through their own efforts. Even so there’s a lot of performance potential there for the right buyer.
I guess that it’s a good thing that you didn’t describe this car as a feminine personality, I hate to think about what you would have come up with! It may have exceeded the bounds of good taste.
Enjoying this series…but I see a C4 and think…
PARTS CAR.
Didja know the C4 front and rear suspension is easily transplanted into A LOT of other Chevrolet vehicles? Or you can just buy a spindle kit to adapt the ‘Vette hubs and calipers? Plus the rear makes a cool IRS swap.
Suppose if I had one I’d be looking at reupholstering the seats to appropriate for my ride too.
Did I mention these are good for parts?
At least it wasn’t one of the early ones with the abominable Cross-Fire Injection. After 1987 the TPI 350/TH700R-4 was bulletproof and I’m guessing the ’92 has the LT-1 which isn’t bad but I’d get really familiar with the OptiSpark system.
Sorry, but the crossfire engine simply is and was not half as bad as people want you to believe. I used a 1982 Corvette as daily driver for 3 years, 365 days a year, and the engine never gave me any troubles. The two repairs it needed in those years were a new battery and a temperature sensor, that had a problem with water dripping on it in the first gen. Replace it with a 85 sensor for like 30 bucks and your fine. Also, fuel economy was way better then any carburated Chevy I ever owned. The TPI was more advanced and for sure a better system, but the crossfire is really not bad at all, as long as you have the right tools and knowledge about them.
Circumstances forced me to sell that car, but in all my 36 years of driving and owning way over 100 cars, that Corvette is in my top 3, and I wished I still had it.
A C4 is not for everyone, that’s for sure. You have to love it and take care of it, slowly getting out all quirks and rattles. When you just look for fun transportation, look further.
Very pretty lines. Best looking Corvette since the C3 in my eyes…but from a distance. Get close and you see the panel gaps and the interior. What corporate bin did that shift lever come from? Cavalier? Sunfire? Achieva? I’ve seen it somewhere before.
The C5 was pretty bad too, from what I recall. I sat in a used one on display as a tradein at the dealership once, and laughed out loud. For a legendary near-halo car, it was a very embarrassing cockpit. Seats were terrible, something a driver’s car should get right even if the dash panels are made of Sterilite bins. I should probably drive one, though. Might change my mind.
Having been born in 1977 and 8 when the C4 was introduced, working on my bachelors by the time it was discontinued – I have a soft spot for the C4.
Give me one from the last few years of production with a LT1 and 6 speed manual. C4s are so cheap I wish I had picked one up in those few years that my commute was short.
I’m “casually” looking for another Vette now. I sold my C2 in 1974 and have been “Vette-less” since then. I had to laugh at this review as it was very short, but telling. I have an acquaintance (friend’s friend) that has a ZR1 and I took it for a ride recently. A very short ride. No thanks……great engine in the wrong body.
I guess I’ll wait out the right C5.
C4 was the Corvette when I came into this world and toured the bowling green factory when the last ones were being built, so these are kind of my mental default image that comes up when someone mentions “corvette”. I have never driven one, but rode passenger in a 93 once, and my take away was it was very low, fisher price in material(Like C5s) inside but novel enough to be enjoyable to be in, it was fast but maybe more in feel than anything(not that I mind that), they feel more like a better F body.
The clamshell hood is one of the coolest things ever, seeing the backs of the popup lights, and the massively wide tire treads nestling the TPI or LT1 is amazing. I find the C4 design fairly meh overall, but it is by far the best looking Corvette with the hood up.
Im on the side of this car’s in-house arch enemy-the Buick Grand National, which, in terms of build quality and general drivingness, is a much better car, but I do have extensive wheel time in a C4.
My Mom bought a new, automatic white ’87 Corvette Z52 and kept for 11 or 12 years. It was not a typical 1980s GM steaming pile but it did have its quality issues. I remember the stupid looking Star Wars dash gauge cluster had to be replaced and it had it an electrical draw where it would drain the battery if it sat for about a week, but overall it was a decent car.
Even when driving it as a newly-licensed teenager, I was not impressed. It creaked, clunked and groaned going around corners and over expansion joints. The steering column had the typical GM clunky feel. Like any typical small block Chevy, it burned oil almost from new. But the TPI 350 was torquey, it made decent power for the 1980s, the TH700(?) made good use of its power band and it certainly handled well. It even got good mileage as I remember my Mom bragging about it getting around 30 mpg on road trips.
Like I said, Im not much of a Corvette fan, but if we are comparing them to Porsches, and I’ve had wheel time (and wrench time) in many versions of both cars, they are both pretty much equal steaming piles of garbage in terms of build quality.
I have a 1993 40th anniversary z-25 option , it has 215,000 miles I’ve owned it 7 year’s even though I’ve done the usual work on it as you would a car that old , i love it , it drive’s like a sports car , it rides like a sports car it doesn’t shimmy & shake as you men this one did , i do have to watch at the car wash at spraying the water around the top of the doors , i have replaced all the weather stripping but it still leakes a little , my only complaint of the whole car is there is nothing you do to it that is easy to do period , plus it’s hard to get in and out of . other than that that i literally love the car.
I guess I had the best 96 ever made because mine didn’t do any of what was described in the article. I got it when it was 6 years old with around 90k miles. It was pretty solid when the roof was bolted in correctly. I didn’t have any problems the two years I owned. Guess I was lucky.
I drove a 90 Corvette for several years in the early aughts. All in all, it was an enjoyable car and relatively reliable. At the time, I liked the later, refreshed C4s bodies, but in retrospect, I find the 90 to be the best combination of C4 style: it was the last year of the original exterior, but it was the first year of the much-improved cockpit style interior. Indeed, I would argue it was the best of the cockpit interiors. All the molded plastic was still black, which hid its cheapness better than the gray molded plastic on the later C4s.
The criticisms above are mostly true, though. The targa roof very much impacted the stiffness of the body. When I used to drive it up Highway 1 in Marin county, the car always felt solid in morning when it was still chilly and I had the roof in place but oddly flexible in the afternoon when I’d removed it for that wind-in-the-hair feeling. You wouldn’t think a relatively small piece of fiberglass (or plexiglas) and four bolts could impact the structure so much.
The interior was somewhat rattly, which I’m sure was exacerbated by the very stiff ride, but the stereo was excellent, so it was easy to drown out the annoying sounds.
The one recurring mechanical issue I had with the car was alternators. It would go through an alternator every couple of years. I’d heard that was a common problem of that generation caused by a combination of high under-hood temperatures and GM’s speccing a slightly undersized alternator.
As an owner of a ’94 C4 i feel it’s a much maligned product of its time. Mine has no squeaks or rattles at all even with 73k miles. Took it to corvette museum, around the track zero issues. Your mileage may vary of course but mine has been reliable in 2 years of ownership, getting in and out do require you to be a bit of a contortionist though.